"We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different."–Kurt Vonnegut

I occasionally post ‘new’ monsters to my blog, often embedded with other posts, and this page is to help me keep track of them, and perhaps save time for anyone else looking for a few ideas. I use ascending AC.

Autoicon

An auto-icon is a mummified body, usually of a sage, wizard, or high priest, that is made up to look like it did in life. In some cases the face and or even the whole head may be replaced with a wax replica; in these cases the real head may become animated by necromancy or some other unknown process. Depending on the particulars of its creation, an autoicon may be undead, or merely a construct like a golem. Autoicons, if disturbed, will attack. The whole body may be animated, if it is intact, and in this case the autoicon does not fly, but may wield weapons or magic items. If the head is detached, is can fly. In any case the autoicon’s eyes may use any of the potent gaze and beam attacks of an ‘Eye tyrant’. They sometimes guard vast treasures, but may also simply be exhibited at places important to them in life.

Cyclopskin

These brutes serve as guards and thugs. They attack with large weapons, although some have a single rhino-like horn they can use in melee ( and charge for double damage). They sometimes attempt to mob and grapple victims in order to capture and carry them off.

My daughter looked at these and said “Those aren’t creepy, they’re goofy.”

Eye-bats

These look like large bats (about the size of a fox bat), but their head is replaced by a single lidless eye. Eye-bats hover or perch, using whatever concealment is available. They direct their gaze on a creature which must save vs. Spell (or Will). A failed save means the victim is unnerved and distracted by the feeling of being watched (-1 to all rolls while under the gaze). Their reproachful gaze has a range of 30″. Eye-bats often accompany patrols of cyclopskin or other minions of wizards or magical monsters.

Forest Basilisk

Forest basilisks are unintelligent, six-legged reptilian monsters with a lignifying gaze. Whether they consume their wooden victims, and what the forest basilisk’s normal diet would be, is unknown.

Gremlins

Fey goblins who steal whatever they can grab. (If they hit an AC 7, the victim makes a Reflex (or Dex, or Paralysis) save or loses one random item. Because we use the LotFP list-based encumbrance, the PCs all have convenient lists of their inventory, and I just roll a suitable die.

All Grues can live indefinitely in a hermetically sealed dungeon. Grues can actually absorb nutrients from damp soil and rocks. This feeding by osmosis is very unsatisfactory for them, though, and a Grue that feeds exclusively in this manner will grow emaciated. They prefer the flesh of intelligent creatures, especially adventurers and hirelings.

They are killed by sunlight (save vs Death) and injured by starlight and moonlight (d6 damage per round). Torches and light spells annoy Lesser Grues but do not harm them.

Grues can hide in shadows as Thieves (4 in 6 chance) and always surprise their foes if hiding (or concealed by darkness, see below). They are surprised only on a 1 in 10 due to their extremely sensitive senses of touch, hearing, and smell.

Greater Grues regenerate as Trolls when in the dark (Lesser Grues do not regenerate). A Greater Grue that is reduced to zero HP and then exposed to any light (preventing regeneration) will dissolve into an oily liquid.

Greater Grues also have the power to generate their own darkness. Each round a Greater Grue can create an area of magical darkness 20′ in diameter. This effect will also dispel Light or Continual Light spells. A Greater Grues’ darkness is dispelled as if it were a spell cast by an 8th level magic user. Bringing any light source into a Grue’s darkness will have no effect — Light spells will be automatically dispelled and fires are extinguished. Greater Grues will attempt to remain within their darkness at all times, and use their ability to create as large an area as possible before engaging in combat. Any foolhardy hero who rushes in to fight a Greater Grue in the dark will fight at -10 unless he has some way of determining exactly where the thing is — their long arms let them attack from far back, and if you use a grid as I do they may be one square away from their opponents and still attack, as if they were using polearms.

Grues are always ravenously hungry and can be bribed or evaded if offered generous supplies of food. In combat, they will attempt to carry off small or incapacitated characters in order to eat them in seclusion.

Headless

Aberrations created by some forgotten, but obviously mad, magic-user, these creatures appear in a human form lacking a neck and head. Their senses somehow allow them find and attack their foes, perhaps through magical or psionic means. Light, darkness, and purely visual illusions have no effect on them, but they can be fooled by illusions that incorporate sound or other tactile components, and they do respond to sound despite their lack of ears, so moving silently may allow one to slip by them. They wear no armor and use no weapons on their own, as they are most often encountered, but Headless in the service of other monsters or NPCs (most commonly Beholders, magic-users, and evil high priests) may be armed and armored and would increase their AC and damage accordingly.

They do not seem to need to eat or drink, but are not undead. It is unclear if they are created from normal humans or created entirely in a laboratory. They can obey simple commands when led but if encountered with no NPC or monster leader, they move about in a loose flock, keeping with 10′ or so of each at all times. They attack humans and demi-humans immediately (although some secret spells can control them) and will simply pound them into mush if they can, leaving the bodies uneaten but unrecognizable. They carry and hoard no treasure but their lairs may be surrounded with the incidental leavings of their victims (a wilderness hex containing a headless lair should have treasure type B scattered about in small hoards, accompanied by piles of mush or splintered bones.

Invisible hands

Invisible hands are thought to be, like so many creatures, merely the results of a wizard’s experimentation, or perhaps phantasms left over when ghosts or other insubstantial undead are destroyed incompletely. Certain sages disagree and argue that they are in fact the residue of spell casting which becomes “stuck” in the prime material plane after the spell effects wear off.
Invisible hands seem to range in size from a normal human hand to massive titanic hands, lending credence to the sages’ theory.

Any time telekinesis type spells like Mage Hand, touch-attack spells like Shocking Grasp or Bigby’s Hand spells, and similar are cast, there is a 10% chance that an invisible hand will remain after the spell’s effect ends. Invisible hands retain the special effects of the spells that create them (Shocking Grasp hands cause electrical damage, Vampiric Touch hands drain HP, etc.), and their size is based on the spell that created them (1/2 HD for cantrips, 1 HD for first level spells, etc.) The invisible hand is never under the caster’s control and will immediately pursue its own agenda. Some hoard or redistribute treasure; some play harmless but humiliating pranks such as copping random feels; and some attempt to strangle or pummel people.

Maggot Farmers

The Maggot Farmers (so-called because they have been observed to tend to “crops” of maggots when no living victims are accessible) are zombie-like creatures. They are humans, humanoids, or demihumans that have been infected by strange foreign flies, which nest in their skulls. The victim’s head is usually encased in a hard, mud-like shell, giving their heads the appearance of a wasp nest; this semblance is enhanced by the swarming flies which fly in and out of the “nest”.

In combat they strike with their fists (2 attacks for d6 each due to their unnatural strength). Victims beaten into submission will be infected — flies will swarm out of the creature’s skull and into the unconscious or dead creature’s orifices. In 2d6 rounds the infection will be complete and the victim will rise as new Maggot Farmer. The brain is completely riddled with maggots , and the Maggot Farmer will remember nothing of its former life or abilities.

Maggot Farmers can be destroyed by damaging spells and magical effects, as well as normal fire, but they resist most weapon damage as follows: Maggot Farmers take damage only from blows to the head (AC 4). Body blows that do at least 8 points of damage will, however, knock them down, with a 50% chance that the fall will fracture the head, killing the Maggot Farmer but releasing a swarm of flies. Killing the creature with head blows also releases a swarm of flies. In either event, these flies will attempt to land on and infect the closes living human, demihuman, or humanoid. Victims must save vs. Poison immediately and on each round the flies swarm on them. Failure results in infection, which will turn the victim into a Maggot Farmer in 2d6 rounds if unconscious or in 2d6 turns if the victim is conscious when infected. The flies can be killed with fire, cold, drowning, or swatting — 5 points of cold or fire damage must be inflicted, or the flies submerged for 5 rounds, or 4 rounds of swatting will be required to kill them (any fire or cold damage will also affect anyone covered in said flies). Players may discover that coating one’s skin thoroughly in oil, or in certain herbal concoctions, will repel the flies too. Large groups will often have treasure collected from their victims — new Maggot Farmers will toss anything they were carrying prior to infection onto a heap in the lair.

Maggot Farmers killed by fire, drowning, spells that do not rely on impact for damage (i.e. not Earthquake, Bigby’s Hand spells, Spiritual Hammer, and so on), freezing, or acid do not release flies.

The motives, if any, of the Maggot Farmers are unknown. They are brainless and unintelligent, but if left alone will cultivate maggots and flies in large baskets similar to artificial beehives, and from a distance they might even be mistaken for beekeepers. They are not truly undead and cannot be turned, although they are unaffected by Sleep, Charm, Fear, and other mind-affecting spells.

Medryad

Medryads are evil creatures that arise when a dryad’s grove is maltreated or clear-cut. Although many dryads simply die when their tree is killed, for some reason a minority mutate into medryads. Medryads often look like slightly disheveled dryads, although some look like relatively small, animated trees — like treants about 5-6 feet tall. Their gaze only works at fairly close quarters, so they will use trickery, seduction, or any other means to lure their victims to them. Medryads can disguise themselves as human or elf women, as well as assuming the form of a finely carved wooden statue of the same. When a potential victim comes within 20′, they will use their gaze attack to turn them into wood. Such victims look like roughly carved statues. Within a day or two, bark usually begins to form on the statue, obscuring the victim’s features. After a week, a lignified victim will morph into a tree trunk and begin to sprout limbs and leaves (or needles if coniferous).

Lignified creatures are not dead and can see and hear normally, although they may not communicate without a spell (cast by another!) such as ESP or Speak with Plants. Lignified characters do not sleep and will slowly go insane, trapped in an immobile body. (Druids may in fact enjoy this peaceful repose.)

Morlocks

In my Telengard setting, I’m changing Morlocks a bit from what the LL rules have. They are more in line with AD&D Grimlocks — sightless, but with acute hearing and smell, 2HD, and very primitive. 2d6 will be the standard number encountered

Pack ape

Intelligence low, understands sign language & a few simple commands in Common, may go apeshit (berserk, throwing off pack and attacking any in range) if provoked or frightened, carries up to 4000 coin weight).

Squigs

Use stats identical to Giant Geckos in B/X D&D, but they jabber endlessly, parroting things they’ve heard humanoids and adventurers say, like “What in Hel is that?” and “Get it off me!” If they roll a natural 20 to attack, they have jumped up and clamped onto their victim’s head, after which hits are automatic as they nosh on the character’s neck. One in three squigs will have d6 weird mushrooms growing on them, which, if eaten within 6 hours of being picked, act as random potions (roll when eaten, cannot be more specifically identified even with spells — they must be eaten).

Troggs

HD4+4, AC 13, Mv: 12″, dmg: d10 or by weapon, Save: as F5, Ml. 8

Troggs are large cave dwellers, perhaps distantly related to humans. Their material culture is very primitive, and they wear only furs and skins. Some wear decorations like animal teeth or other trophies strung on sinew. They make crude weapons, such as clubs, axes, and spears. These generally do d6 damage, plus 4 for their great strength. Alternatively they throw rocks for d10 damage at a range of up to 120 feet. They live in clans of 2d6 members; d8x10% will be juveniles (2 HD). The womenfolk usually are armed with flint knives which cause d4 damage, plus 4 for their great strength. Each clan has a leader with 7 HD and who saves as 7th level fighter. One clan in four will have a shaman who casts spells as 5th level cleric and saves as 5th level cleric. One clan in six will also have a champion who has maximum HP and fights and saves as a 7th level fighter. They are not necessarily man-eaters but tend to be surly and easily provoked to fight or flight. They fear elves and will attempt to flee from them, but if forced to fight will focus their attacks on them if there are non-elves also fighting. They hate ogres and attack them on sight. Their treasure is usually negligible but some clans will have a magic item or book that they consider a sacred talisman (50& chance of each). They will not willing part with such a talisman unless offered something spactacular (to their primitive minds) in trade.

Valhalla of the blogs

Copyright notice

All written content copyright Mike Monaco, 2008-2019, except where attribution to others is explicit or implied. Some images have been collected through Google Image Search and their use is not intended as a challenge to the copyright holder, and they are included for educational purposes only. I try to use public domain images, or my own photos or drawings whenever possible. If something that belongs to you appears here and you want it removed or better attribution provided, please let me know. If you want to use any of my intellectual property for your own project, let me know: mike period monaco atsymbol yahoo period com. I’ll probably just ask for attribution.